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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057613">Arc 2 One-Off Rewrites</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARS2SWIM/pseuds/ARS2SWIM'>ARS2SWIM</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:15:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,377</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARS2SWIM/pseuds/ARS2SWIM</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple of scenes from arc 2 of Wings of Fire I rewrote back in 2019. Technically they were my very first pieces of fanfiction. Since they're so short, I thought it would only be fair to include both of them in this upload.<br/>The first rewrite is of the infamous Prince Arctic death scene from Legends: Darkstalker. I remember Tui saying at one point that she could've made it a lot more detailed, but Scholastic wanted her to gloss over the details in order to keep things relatively child-friendly. My only goal with this was to make things as detailed and gory as I could. <br/>The second rewrite is a bit more creative - basically, it's the scene from Darkness of Dragons where Darkstalker tempts Qibli with animus magic, except in this version, he actually accepts the magic. It's extremely short, but I still think it's an interesting idea to look back upon. Maybe I'll flesh this out in the future.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Arctic's Death</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The sunlight gleamed off of Darkstalker’s teeth as the crowd of awestruck NightWings stared and pointed at Arctic’s pathetic figure, kneeling beneath his own son’s talons. Arctic could see the fear in Whiteout’s eyes, of which Thoughtful was attempting to comfort. A small part of him wished he could fly down and apologize to the both of them, but that face in his mind was easily diminished by his pure hatred for Darkstalker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now…” Darkstalker said in a low, smooth voice. “Go ahead and say that you should’ve been a better father.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arctic felt his jaw attempt to move on its own, nearly forming the words Darkstalker wanted to hear. However, he managed to stop it just in time, with all of his willpower, to reply something more… appropriate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>do </span>
  </em>
  <span>wish I had been a better father…” Arctic attempted to chuckle, but under the influence of Darkstalker’s spell, it sounded more like a hiccup. “If I had been, I would’ve smothered you the moment you hatched!” He glared up at Darkstalker, and immediately wished he hadn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Darkstalker’s gaze had darkened into a cold, murderously calm stare. His lack of emotion slowly, slowly molded itself into a wide, unhinged smile. The crowd murmured a little more loudly, but Arctic failed to recognize whether it was due to his words or Darkstalker’s ridiculously creepy grin. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest, in his head, all over. He could barely see Clearsight in his peripheral vision. He longed to scold her about how she could see any good in Darkstalker, how she could be tricked into letting him obtain this much power.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, she watched, while he suffered, while Darkstalker soullessly uttered: “Cut out your tongue.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arctic struggled and thrashed within his head for control over his talons, but this time it was of no use. They fluidly brought themselves upon Arctic’s mouth; he tasted the wood of the stage off of their cold surface. Then, they swiftly dug themselves into his tongue, pleasurably letting blood puddle up and out of it, before violently ripping it right out of his mouth. He didn’t need control over the movements of his head to realize that blood was pouring out of his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Arctic felt his talons mindlessly dip into the waterfall of blood raining from his mouth, he felt his insides squeeze and constrict in pain. He tried to scream, to release all of the agony that had instantaneously surfaced in his mouth, but failed. Arctic could leak no sound, only the blue liquid of his life force.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>            Arctic could feel Darkstalker’s breath against his face as he shuddered in agony. It was cold and dull, like he was no longer a dragon, but a puppet to his own power. “Now…” Darkstalker started, raising his voice a little. “Take your talons, rip open your stomach, and show everyone what you’re like on the inside. Pour your life out onto this stage!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>           Again, the treacherous talons of Arctic, that now no longer belonged to him, lifted, but this time his stomach was their prey. Slowly, like serpents, they closed in on Arctic’s chest, before violently digging in. Above the agony, he could feel energy pulsing through them, determined to touch his stomach, esophagus, intestines… and remove it all. They giddily tore through his scales like hungry teeth. As Arctic’s talons strained, he could feel his scales separating, slowly but horrifically. Blood oozed out of him; he could faintly hear the shrieking of his daughter amongst the crowd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once his talons had finished cutting him open, with their last bit of life they dug into his insides and threw out everything like it was unneeded garbage. He felt them clench and squeeze his own stomach, to the point where it almost burst, and ripped it. His heart was next; as soon as they sliced through, he stopped feeling. He stopped thinking as the world faded away into speckles of black, the same color as his own son who had killed him.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Qibli's Choice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>Who would say no to their secret dream come true?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why would I ever say no? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Say yes to the magic. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Say yes to the bright future. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Say yes.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Qibli looked up into Darkstalker’s eyes and said, “Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excellent”, Darkstalker said. “I knew you were smart enough to accept this.” He pushed the levitating crown to Qibli, who gingerly held it by its sides. He gently dropped it on his head, and dark purple sparks briefly flashed around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Qibli looked at his talons, then back to Darkstalker. Immediately, his mind started imagining the possibilities of his new ability. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I could turn Moon into an animus. She wouldn’t have to suffer headaches, or wait - Winter could finally iron out his flaws and become perfect for Moon. Peril could make herself safe to touch other dragons.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I can give these gifts to everyone.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Everyone will be happy.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now then, Qibli”, Darkstalker began. “What will </span>
  <em>
    <span>your </span>
  </em>
  <span>first enchantment be?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would obviously enchant something to protect my soul first”, Qibli said. “Then, I would be able to give anyone a gift.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good choice”, Darkstalker said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Qibli began to look for an object inside the cave to enchant, he faintly heard wingbeats in the distance. He looked up and saw Moon and Kinkajou flying together. Qibli felt a weird mix of guilt and pride at the sight. Moon would be delighted at his new gift, would she? The ability to have anything and do anything: it must’ve been everyone’s dream.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Would she be happy?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Qibli quickly found the answer as Moon landed in front of him, disbelief, fear, and fury written all across her face. His heart sank. This wasn’t supposed to happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Qibli, what - what is this? What is </span>
  <em>
    <span>that?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She pointed to the crown that sat on top of Qibli’s temples.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Moon, I’m an animus dragon now”, Qibli replied. “This is huge. I can fix every single problem in Pyrrhia. Poverty, hunger, sickness, and - “ He broke off as Moon began to shake her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Qibli, I never thought you would actually do this”, Moon said, sounding genuinely hurt. “This </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>huge, but not in a good way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay - I can enchant something for you”, he said. Qibli picked up a small rock. “I enchant this rock to -“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“NO!” Moon said, snatching the rock and flinging it into a nearby wall. It crumbled softly after bouncing off the ground. “I didn’t want this! I - I would </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>want this! This is the kind of thing I thought you were smart enough to avoid! No… no…” Moon trailed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If it makes you feel better, I won’t kill anyone”, Qibli said quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How do we know that?” Moon retorted. “How do we know that you won’t kill anyone that tries to hurt Queen Thorn, or Winter, or - or me?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, that’s different”, Qibli said with certainty in his voice. “Of course I would have to kill them. I can’t risk anything happening to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moon froze, her eyes widening. “Are you serious?” she said quietly. “You would really kill anyone… for me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Qibli’s heart leaped. “Absolutely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moon’s thoughtful face suddenly contorted into fury. “WHAT?!” she yelled. “That’s horrible! Taking other dragon’s lives just because…..” Moon turned around and flew out of the cave at an astonishing speed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kinkajou turned her eyes to Qibli and looked into them for a moment, as if she was measuring how much soul he still had, before shaking her head and following Moon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weight of Qibli’s actions began to sink in. If Moon was ever going to love him before, that chance was long gone. Winter would probably ridicule him, before turning tail as Moon had done. Thorn would probably be shrouded in disappointment, and might even exile Qibli from the Kingdom of Sand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was it. He had lost everything in one fell swoop. He technically still had Darkstalker, but now he was starting to regret his decision of becoming his friend. Darkstalker was unpredictable; Qibli didn’t know if he would ever trust the two-thousand year dragon. And everyone else would probably never trust Qibli, just as they wouldn’t normally trust Darkstalker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It amazed Qibli, right there, how hard trust was to gain, and how easy it was to lose.</span>
</p>
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